Roberta & TomTom

For some reason animals are drawn to my parents house. Over the years we've had our abundance of family pets (dogs, birds, hampsters, guinea pigs, ant farms, hermit crabs, fish, turtles, and anything "cute" found in the neighbourhood), and wild critters have always seemed to jump on this ship, taking up residence here too.

We don't know why they choose our house because it's not exactly a tranquil environment with our yappy dogs, but it's no secret that the Groves always have visiting creatures. Just the other day our neighbour came over to say, "do you have rats again? We found a dead one in our yard." So, yes it has come to the point where the sighting of any rodent in the neighbourhood is associated with an infestation in our house.

A few weeks back my dad heard some all too familiar scurrying in the ceiling. Crap, the rats are back. He calls the exterminator and after many failed attempts at catching even one rat, it's determined that this isn't the issue. The scurrying continues and is now accompanied with squealing. These footsteps sound heavier than usual, so the next call goes out to Wildlife Control.

It was quickly determined that we have a new type of resident, raccoons! What we didn't realize at the time was that over the next few weeks we'd be seeing an awful lot of Dan, our 'coon catcher,' as he scoured our attic and the soffits (eves) for our furry friend. He was fairly certain we were dealing with a mom and her babies ('kits') as not only was it that time of the year, but she was relentless at breaking back into the house if locked out. It's amazing what those creatures can bust through, chew through, and how they outsmart all of us. It didn't matter if there was a wire screen over the hole or a 1-inch wood board, she would get in. This was driving my dad CRAZY, so as I love to do, I did my best to find humour in the situation. I named the mom, Roberta and the babies were TomTom, Bobbi, and Bob Jr (my dad's name is Robert Thomas). You can bet that he was thrilled to hear the clan was now his namesake! The names stuck and before long, even Adam was asking if anyone had heard from Roberta lately.

The den was eventually located in the ceiling above our living room. Roberta had chosen the quietest and warmest spot in the house - I knew she was a smart one! Dan returned today, armed with his ladder, headlamp, hockey stick, net, mirror, buckets, and even scratches from his previous capture. He was able to access the raccoon den through the soffits, sparing the ceiling drywall inside the house. Roberta took off right away, leaving the kits alone. Dan was able to reach in and grab one squealing baby. It turned out that this was a one-kit litter, somewhat uncommon, but none of us were complaining. The next step was getting Mama our of the house so Dan climbed onto the roof holding a squealing TomTom by the scruff on the neck. Mom did eventually come to claim her baby, picked him up and and they were off. Once the hole was officially sealed up, we watched her attempt to return, baby in mouth. I found this part really sad to watch, but again, was thankful she only had to worry about one baby and would surely find a new den for the two of them.

Of course this created quite the scene on our street today: Animal Control parked outside, squealing animals, nets, traps, gasps, and finally cheers. Just another day at the Groves house.

Flashback: Visiting Victoria, 1986

I wish I still had that much excitement for the ferry!

Cranky Pants

It was the most beautiful day in the world and I was one crabby girl today! I hate taking any kind of medication, let alone prescription pain meds with awful side effects. Since the surgery I have tried to wean myself off them and have gotten by with very few recently. Despite feeling a little achy this morning, I thought today might be the first day without them. Adam and I were out for a stroll through Kerrisdale when things started to get a wee bit sore. No problem, let's just stop at the pharmacy and get some Tylenol. A couple caplets later it became apparent that I might as well have eaten jelly beans.... I needed to get my cranky pants back home asap!

I guess I will have to suck it up for a few more days of unpleasant side effects. Ugh. I suppose the fact that I thought I could go without them is at least a good sign.

Thanks to the hubby for having extreme patience!!!

Catching him when he's 'trapped' in NormaTec...the BEST time to cuddle :)

Seriously, where is summer?! I know I shouldn't complain because I'm not on my bike everyday or swimming in the lakes, and could actually avoid the "elements" altogether if I wanted to right now, but this is just getting silly! It's JUNE and I'm still wearing rain boots, long pants and wool hoodies.

Feeling a little stir crazy and adventurous this morning, I set out in search of some sign that my calendar is not a month or two off. With my rain boots on and little pudgy doggy in tow, I set out through the neighbourhood sniffing out the spring blooms. As we were walking I realized that Chloe is in the same recovery boat as me. Let's just say she hasn't exactly been the picture of health in a very long time, a condition we had all attributed to a combination of being fairly lazy and sneaking far too many treats. But a recent diagnosis of Cushings disease AND a thyroid problem have explained a lot, and also given her future a brighter outlook. She has to take medication daily, and for the rest of her life, but it has already made a world of difference over the past month. So, I have set a goal for the two of us over the next two months to get back our health, and maybe a little fitness along the way. I hope my program progresses beyond daily walks (and soon!), and I am also thinking that my curve to health might be a tad steeper than hers, but the two of us will make a good team. I am just glad that I don't have to subject myself to the weekly weigh-ins that she has to... sorry, Chloe, you are alone on those!

Chloe

I'm all settled in Vancouver with my hubby, my family and my recovery companion, Chloe!

All fixed up

Typing with both hands and my pudgy, swollen fingers is a bit of a challenge, but here goes.

As you can see by the photos below, the surgery was done yesterday. Not only did it go well, but we were reassured that this was in fact the right decision. When Dr. Nelson opened me up he found that "pseudoarthrosis" had occurred in my fracture site. In other words, my body had turned the gap between the bones into a "joint." It was obviously a joint without tendons and ligaments, but was filled with fluid so that the bones would glide nicely. I guess this explains why I had minimal pain but still a lot of fracture motion. Anyway, when pseudoarthrosis occurs, the fracture will never heal itself with new bone.

I also was able to escape the bone graft from my hip. This was a huge relief as I have heard that this would be more painful than the clavicle and would ache for quite some time. Dr. Nelson was able to create enough of a graft from the fracture fragments and the cleaned up bone ends to fill in the gaps.

I found this whole process fascinating. I loved the fact that I got to watch them set up the operating room when I got settled on the table. I had about 6 hours in the waiting room to get over my nerves, so at this point so I actually enjoyed seeing the tools placed out, watching the OR nurses rushing about to prep the room, watching Dr. Nelson pull my x-rays on to the tv monitors. I don't remember much beyond hearing the anesthesiologist say, "I'm going to give you some medicine now," and I am probably thankful for that!

Thank you to everyone for your kind, healing wishes! And, thank you to my hubby, Adam for being by my side yesterday. From what I could tell, spectating surgery was just as exhausting as spectating an ironman. I think he crashed before I did last night! And, thank you to my wonderful mother-in-law, Wendy for going above and beyond with pre and post-surgery hospitality!

Today was day 1 of the road to recovery and I can't say I felt like doing much more than a walk around the neighbourhood, followed by multiple naps, but I'm ok with that. I have to admit that my shoulder does feel foreign to me. It aches, but that's no big surprise. What's most bizarre is this sense of artificial sturdiness and rigid support. I don't think I could have poor posture and slump even if I wanted to! But, I suppose this is to be expected for having a plate of metal in there.

Celebrating with Tiff. Wine for her, prune juice for me.

*I apologize if this is a grammatical mess. I feel as rotten as I look in the photo above!

Success!